Bloomberg Gets NYC GOP Nod; Dems in Runoff

Media mogul Michael Bloomberg won the Republican primary in the New York's mayor's race on Tuesday, securing a spot in the November general election against an as-yet unknown Democrat.

On the Democratic side, no candidate won the required 40 percent plurality. As a result, city Public Advocate Mark Green and Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer will face each other in an Oct. 11 runoff, and eventuality many expected.

Bloomberg, who has spent $20 million so far in his first bid for elective office, handily defeated former Congressman Herman Badillo.

New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani this week encouraged people to vote in the primaries, while deflecting questions about his own political future amid pressure for him to find a way to circumvent a term limits law and stay on the job.

"People decide on their own whether they want to vote or they don't want to vote," Giuliani told reporters Monday at a televised news conference. "If they want to vote, then they should choose between and among the candidates that are there on the different lines."

Though a current term limits law would force Giuliani to leave office on Dec. 31, when his second term ends, his strongest supporters and top aides have been pushing him to stay on the job to help the city recover. He had been prepared to leave office quietly — but that was before a terrorist suicide mission destroyed the twin towers of the World Trade Center, and forever altered the city skyline.

Since then, even Giuliani's political rivals have praised his response to the crisis. But while leaving the door open to entering the race at some point, Giuliani did nothing to suggest he plans to make a move.

"It is true that I have a future," Giuliani said. "I don't know what it is yet and, therefore, I don't have an announcement about it."

Speaking Monday night on The Late Show With David Letterman, Giuliani said he's got other things on his mind at the moment.

"About two days ago I said, 'I'm going to sit down and think about it,' and the minute I do, I realized this morning that we weren't going to enough funerals," Giuliani said. "Up until now, as mayor, I've been to every single funeral of … the uniformed people of New York City."

May Not Be Possible

The speculation may all be moot. A senior state elections official told ABCNEWS the only way Giuliani could appear on the general election ballot in November would be to win any party's nomination in the primaries, receiving a plurality of the write-in votes and surviving a runoff.

Over the course of last week, aides to Giuliani and New York Gov. George Pataki — once bitter political rivals — were working behind the scenes to explore whether the city council or state Legislature would repeal the term limits law. Democrats, who control the state Assembly and City Council, were not interested.

On Friday, Pataki tried to quiet speculation the state would act to let Giuliani stay on, though he hinted voters could write-in the mayor's name. A spokesperson later said Pataki wanted the election to proceed without interference.

A Marist Institute for Public Opinion poll found 91 percent of New York City residents think Giuliani is doing an excellent or good job handling the aftermath of the terrorist attacks.

But when the same poll asked New York voters whether term limits should be repealed to let Giuliani seek re-election, only 33 percent answered "yes."

Ferrer, City Council Speaker Peter Vallone — who stood with Giuliani at Monday's news conference — Green, and City Comptroller Alan Hevesi ran against each other in the Democratic primary. Republicans had to choose between entrepreneur Michael Bloomberg and Herman Badillo.

Candidates need a plurality of 40 percent to advance to the general election, tentatively scheduled for Nov. 6. If no candidate gets enough votes, the top two will
advance to an early October runoff.

Whether he winds up on the ballot or not in November, voters will have Giuliani's
performance in mind.

"In crises, politicians will be leading the way in
terms of public opinion," said Richard F. Zimmerman, a scholar of
urban politics and government. "So they'll no doubt think of
Giuliani."

Candidates Have Not Campaigned Since Terror Attacks

None of Giuliani's prospective successors had campaigned since the Sept. 11 attacks. The city's campaign finance board ordered the campaigns to halt expenditures, and they all did. Aside from a few appearances
at previously scheduled public forums and a few interviews granted to the New York newspapers, the six men who would be mayor stayed out of the media and public eye.

"The
campaigning has stopped," said Green spokesman Joe DePlasco. "We
have other things on our mind." But, he said, "The
people of New York are interested in hearing what [the candidates]
have to say."

Whoever takes office next year faces enormous challenges.

Zimmerman gives only the San Francisco earthquake of 1906
and the great Chicago fire of 1871 as precedents for
rebuilding. Though stock brokerages and law firms are living in
temporary quarters, the facility of trading and the utility of business
won't be up to speed until Verizon repairs its transmission
building, until construction companies patch up the thousands of broken
windows, until the debris is clear, which could take months.

The city could stand to lose billions in lost revenue from the
dearth of tourists, industry job cuts and a slowdown in consumer spending.

Hundreds of firefighters and police officers need to be
replaced. The city must spend millions and millions of dollars
on top of the $1 billion New York Fire Department budget to buy new
firetrucks, pay new firefighters, train the others, and treat the injured.
The NYPD and several local agencies will likely ask for budget increases.
(Crime is down 55 percent since the disasters, which NYPD Commissioner
Bernard Kerik attributes to more people staying inside their homes).

On the backburner, for now, are health and education, two
areas upon which Giuliani belatedly focused his attention.

Harold Levy, the chancellor of the school system, has more important
issues to attend to, and it remains to be seen whether a
divided state Legislature in Albany will appropriate as much for
education as it planned to before, according to one source who has
talked with assembly and Senate members. So far, Ferrer has been the only candidate to
mention the "urgent" need for increased spending on these areas.